Ash tray



Jan. 6, E P R 2,268,821

ASH TRAY Filed Dec. 11, 1939 INVENTOR E WINE HARPER ATTORNEYj PatentedJan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES 2,268,821 V AsHHrRAY Ewing Harper," SanFrancisco, Calif. Application December 11, 1-93'9,-'Serial No. 308,619

6 Claims. germ- 235) This invention relates to improvements in an ashtray for cigarettes, and has for one of its objects, the provision of asimple, sanitary, effective structurein a tray for ashes for easily andquickly extinguishing the burning end of a 1- cigarette butt and forsupporting such butt until the same isfully extinguished. Another objectis arranged and adapted to exclude sufficient air from the burning endsof the butts to quickly cause extinguishment of said ends whereby thecigarettes ejected from the means 7 are extinguished, and a stillfurther object is improved means of the above character. in. which theends of the butts opposite their burning ends are exposed forgrasping-by the fingers of the operator, during movement of the buttsthrough said means. Other objects and advantages will appear inthespecification and drawing annexed hereto. In the drawing, Fig. 1 is aplan view of a tray showing myinvention. I I

Fig. 2 is an enlargedsectional view taken along line 2--2 of Fig. 1 withcigarette buttsindicated in position.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a tray showing another form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section'taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 isa plan view of another form of the invention.

Fig. 6 isan enlargedsectional view taken alon line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

- Fig. 7 is a plan view of a still further form of the inventionsuitable for use in automobiles.

Fig. 8 .is an enlargedsectional view taken along line 88 of Fig. 7. 1

In detail, referring to Figs. 1, 2, at least one of the sides l of thetray is formed with a generally vertically extending slot 2 opening"inwardly into the area within the tray; The opposite sides of the slotmaybe spaced apart a greater distance adjacent the bottom thereof thanalongthe edges of the slot at the open side thereof, as indicated inFig. 1, and-the distance between said edges is .such that in isliding 'alighted cigarette buttinto-the slot from its'upper open end, thecigarette will be frictionally'held between said edges withsuflicient'force to prevent thebutt from freely dropping downwardly inthe slot; Also, the-depth of theslot is such that the burning end ofacigarette butt will be fully disposed therein against or at leastrelatively close to the bottom of the "slot when the edges of the sidesof the latter frictionally engage the butt adjacent the juncturebetweenthe burnihglend thereof and the'remainder of said butt. The sidesof the slot adjacent the upper open end thereof taper outwardly, as at3, to facilitate guiding the cigarettes into'the slot. The side walls ofthe slot 2 along its open side extend vertically downwardly, but thebottom of the slot curves inwardly into the tray as at 4. Thusthelowermost cigarette 5, in said slot, is gradually forced out of theslot and into the tray as successive cigarettes-are forced into theupper open end. I However, the cigarette butt need be held in-the slotonly several seconds before it is extinguished,-hence, in normal use,the cigarette that is ejected from the slot is fully extinguished beforesuch ejection. Where the side walls of the slot 2 extend to the bottomof the tray, the bottom of the latter may be formed with an upwardprojection 5 having a downwardly inclined side 1 extending from one sideof the lower end of the slot for causing the ejected cigarette butttoroll away from the lower end ofthe slot to position 5 (Fig.1) thuspositively insuring against any chance of the ejected cigarettebuttobstructing ejection of the following butt. r

In the bottom of the tray may also be formed an elongated slot 2',opening upwardly along its longitudinal side and opening at its endsinto a portion of the bottom disposed o'iitwardly of said ends, as shownin Fig. l. I It is, of course, obvious that several slots 2 may beprovided, as is shown in Fig; l, and in the device of Fig. l the slots2, 2 are formed in the walls and bottom of the tray.

In operation, the operator merely slides the butt laterally-of itslength into either slot 2, or 2' fromone end of such slot. In the caseof slot 2, the butt enters the upper end thereof. As soon as the sidewalls-ofthe slot-frictionally engages the butt, the butt may be releasedand it will be held with the burning end enclosed within said slot,until extinguished. The operator may, off'course, slide the buttcompletely through-the slotsince the end opposite the burning end isexposedfor grasping by the fingers. The next butt is slipped into theslot in the same manner as the first one, in sideby side relation to thefirst butt, and said 'first butt automatically will beforcedtowardtheopposite end ofthe'slo't for ejection upon the slot being filled withbutts.

Since the upper side of the tray is fully open at all times, the ashesmay be knocked into the tray in the ordinary manner, and the tray can bereadily cleaned since there are no closed passages, such as tubes, orother areas that are difficult to clean.

In Figs. 3, 4, instead of forming the slot for the butts in the body ofthe tray, I provide a detachable metal clip, preferably of spring metal,having opposed side walls 8 and bottom 9 forming the sides and bottom ofa channel corresponding withslots 2, 2' of Fig. 1. The bottom wall 9 maybe extended at one end to provide a spring element I (Fig. 4) adapted toclamp the channel to the side wall I l of a conventional ash tray, withthe bottom 9 against the inner.

side of said wall II. In this form of device the lower open end of thechannel may terminate above the bottom I2 of the tray, whereby thecigarette butts will fall freely from the lower open end of the channelupon the butt or butts therein being forced downwardly by a cigarettebutt entering the upper open end of the channel.

Figs. 5, 6, show a modified form of tray in which there is a lip orhorizontally disposed projection I3 extending inwardly into the trayfrom one of the side walls, which projection is spaced above the bottomI4 of the tray to form a horizontally disposed channel I5 at one of thesides of the tray with the open ends of the latter opening laterallyinto the tray. In this form the cigarette butts move horizontallyinstead of vertically, and the portion l6 of the bottom I2 immediatelybelow said projection I3 may be elevated slightly above the bottomproper so the ejected cigarette will roll from one or the other of theopen ends of the channel I5 onto the bottom proper. It is, of course,manifest that the bottom I4 may continue below the projection I3 withoutthe elevated portion I6, if desired, but the elevated portion permitsgrasping the exposed ends of a butt during passage through the channelwithout the finger tips touching the bottom'of the tray, in addition tothe advantage already noted. 7

In Figs. 7, 8, the invention is shown as applied to the type of ashtrays in automobiles, which trays may slide or pivot in a suitableportion of the automobile, such as the dashboard or sides. In this form,one of the walls II of the tray forms one of the sides of a channel I8,the other side of the channel being a strip I9. The strip I9 extendsdownwardly into the tray or ash receptacle, and is positioned adjacentone of the corners of the receptacle. Said strip is secured along one ofits edges to wall 20, which Wall, together with the wall I'I, forms saidcorner, thus the portion of wall 20 between said strip and wall I1 formsthe bottom of the channel. The upper end 2| of strip I9 is slightlyflared away from wall I'I, thus directing 'a butt into the channel, andthe distance between the sides I'I, I9 of said channel is such as tofrictionally engage the opposite sides of a butt to hold such butttherein until forced downwardly therein by another butt subsequentlyinserted into the channel above the preceding butt. The lower end ofchannel I8 opens into the bottom of the receptacle and said bottomcurves upwardly to meet wall I I, whereby a butt forced out of thechannel will roll on the curved bottom into the bottom of thereceptacle.

Previous ash trays and receptacles have been provided with pockets orthe like for receiving the lighted ends of butts for extinguishing thesame, and also provision has been made for extinguishing the butts bymoving the same axially thereof through passageways, the burning end ofone butt being forced into the passageway against the end of a precedingbutt, but in these forms, the pockets or passageways are inclined tobecome clogged by deposits from the products of combustion, or where thebutts are unusually long they tend to buckle upon application of forceon their ends and also the passageways and.

pockets are difficult to clean. With the forms illustrated thecigarettes are moved through the channel or slot in side by siderelation with the burning ends in the channel or slot, and any and allbutts retained in the slots may be readily removed therefrom by merelygrasping the exposed end and withdrawing the butt. It is also apparentthat substantially the entire area of the bottom of the tray is exposedfrom above for dropping ashes into the tray, and there are no movableparts or other complicated structures involved in making the trays.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an ash tray having bottom and side walls and an open top, one ofthe walls of said tray being formed to provide a channel integraltherewith positioned with its open side opening inwardly into the areawithin said tray,'the depth of said channel being sufficient to fullyenclose the burning end of a cigarette when the burning end is insubstantial engagement with the bottom of the channel, the edges of thesides of said channel along the open side being spaced apartsubstantially the thickness of a cigarette to frictionally engageopposite sides of a cigarette butt adjacent the burning end thereof forfrictionally holding a butt with the burning end in said channel, oneend of said channel being open and positioned for slidably receiving acigarette butt between the sides thereof and the opposite end of thechannelopening into said receptacle for discharge of cigarettebuttsthereinto when butts in said channel are successively advanced to saidopposite end by butts successively slipped into the channel from saidone end, the opposed side walls and the bottom wall of said'channelbeing integrally united along their adjoining edges for the full lengthof the channel thereof preventing access of air to within the channelalong said edges.

2. An ash tray having a bottom wall and a side wall, a channel withinsaid receptacle extending downwardly along said side wall with the openside of the channel opening into the area within said receptacle andopening outwardly of the receptacle at its upper end, said channel beingadapted to receive the burning ends of cigarette butts from said upperopen end 'for downward sliding of the butts with their opposite endsextending outwardly of the open sideof the channel, and the bottomof'said channel being curved longitudinally of said channel inwardlytoward the center of the tray at the lower end of said channel to engagethe butts upon the latter being moved downwardly in said channel forguiding said butts out of said channel and inwardlyinto said receptacle.I

3. An ash tray having an open upper side, lateral sides and a bottom,one of the sides of said tray being formed to provide an open-endedchannel of substantially U-shape in cross-section, the opposed sides ofwhich channel are spaced apart in fixed relation 'a sufficient distanceto receive the burning end of'a cigarette butt therein for sliding ofsuch end longitudinally of the channel with the opposite end of the buttprojecting from the open side of the channel, the open side of saidchannel facing into the area enclosed by said lateral sides and saidopposed sides of said channel being arranged to support such buttswithin said channel, the bottom of said channel being curvedlongitudinally at one end toward the outer edges of the sides of saidchannel whereby cigarette butts moved longitudinally therein to said oneend will automatically be forced out of said channel by engagement withthe curved end of said bottom.

4. In an ash tray having bottom and lateral sidewalls and a fully openupper side; a substantially U-shaped channel within said tray disposedalong one of said walls; the sides of said channel being substantiallyparallel and spaced apart a sufiicient distance to receive and fullyenclose the burning end of a cigarette butt therein with the remainderof the butt projecting from the open side of the channel; one of theends of said channel opening into the area enclosed by the lateral sidewalls of said tray at a point within said area adjacent said bottom wallfor discharge of butts from said channel directly onto the bottom ofsaid tray from said one end; and the open side of said channel extendingfrom said end being also disposed within the said area and accessiblefor manual sliding of butts supported between the sides of said channellongitudinally thereof.

5. In a construction as defined in claim 4, the opposedly facing innersides of said channel being substantially uniformly spaced apart indirectiontransversely of their lengths and substantially free fromconvergence in the direction of their widths toward the bottom of thechannel whereby any deposits from said burning ends maybe readilycleaned from the bottom of said channel.

6. In an ash tray having bottom and lateral side walls and a fullyopenupper side; a substantially U-shaped channel disposed within theconfines of the upper side of said tray and carried by one of saidwalls; the sides of said channel being rigid relative to each other andto the bottom wall and the opposite ends of said channel being open;said channel being of a depth and cross-sectional contour to support andenclose the burning end of a cigarette butt therein whereby such buttwill be extinguished when so EWING HARPER.

